Mouthing Obsession

I have a now soon to be 16 month old male staffy who has been a biter/mouther ever since he was a puppy. I thought he would eventually grow out of it a bit by now but he drives me absolutely insane with the amount of mouthing he does with me still & anyone else who is around him. When he plays it's always with his mouth. It's generally not hard but he forgets the strength of his jaw sometimes. He even knows when he's been a bit hard or rough! He can't be touched without him trying to play with his mouth. I've tried the ignoring him & yelping thing with him but it doesn't seem to work. He is also a really bad chewer!!
Has anyone else had this same issue & if so, is there any possible resolution?

Do you give him tough things to chew to alleviate the chewing?

Have a look at this link to help with mouthing and biting :0
http://staffy-bull-terrier.com/stop_your_staffy_puppy_biting

Excessive mouthing can be the result of many factors, including; inconsistent or lacking traing/the wrong type of training, environment (as Lisa mentioned, lacking chew toys etc) or even over stimulation.

Is there any pattern to when he's mouthing?

Yes Lisa, I give him these hard plastic flavored bones from the pet shop to chew on because they are the only things that will last with him other than raw bones (every so often). Everything other toy I have given him he destroys within minutes if they are not hard. Tyres, ropes, balls squeaky toys all gone! I am concerned that I have encouraged his biting by giving him those plastic bones, as Rachel has possibly suggested with the over stimulation.
When he plays with me, its always with his mouth & biting. The only pattern to his biting is when he's awake! I love him when he's tired & sleepy!!   
He also has this thing where he will continually lick just before he gets tired & goes to sleep. He will try & lick me, the pillows on the lounge where he lays with me or the blanket he lays on. It drives me crazy. Is this a normal staffy behaviour?

I have zero advice I'm afraid, just writing to say you have just described my staffy perfectly! He is a few months older than yours but has always been a mouther too. I think he is at long last getting the hint that I am not keen and has done it a lot less lately. He use to do it to absolutely everybody, couldnt touch him without him trying it and although he has always been really gentle, obviously not everyone likes having a dog, especially a staffy putting their teeth on them! But he has really cut back on it recently, only thing I have done is say 'ah-ah' which is his 'oi stop that right now' command for any unwanted behaviour) and then stopped interacting right away. I'm a first time dog owner and a lot of it is trial and error for us so I might be getting it wrong but (what feels like!) ten years later he is getting there. Might be nothing to do with what I am doing, might just be growing out of it, I don't know lol.
He licks me as well when we're having our evening snuggle on the sofa time, that is when I like him best too, when he is barely awake!

I'd usually suggest redirecting the mouthing onto a toy in this situation, if bug is getting over excited she will run off and pick up a toy, giving it a good chewing instead of us! She hasn't put her teeth on us in years knowing that she has this alternative coping mechanism for her excess energy.. She also has a tendency to hump people if a toy isn't in sight, due to over excitment, so we keep toys everywhere lol!!

If he's a destroyer (I'm assuming you have tried black kongs/goughnuts toys etc?) maybe just pick up some rope toys, or extra cheap toys or even teddys from charity shops that he could shred when he's in mouthing mode, something he can release tension on, hard bones are fine but there's no real jaw release on them. I'd usually suggest plastic bottles, Bug loves crunching these and gets all of her tension out on them, but this may overstimulate him more.

I also teach impulse control through rope play/flirt poles.. But you need to practise first with low key games to ensure you don't get mouthing redirected to you. Also, heavy exercise is key.. Bug climbs, hikes, runs and swims weekly with rope play/chase games for her usually daily walks. They're a very active breed with lots of stamina.. Guide it in the right direction and your problems will heavily alleviate.

My Zeus is also a mouther....He is now 7 months old. We make sure he has plenty of chew toys, sometimes we are able to redirect him to one of these. You can not pet him without it resulting in your hand in his mouth. He is very gentle but at times he forgets.

We have tried letting him now it "hurts", "no biting" command followed by a chew toy, stop all attention, put him off the couch. Any suggestions on the best way to approach this issue.

Thanks a bunch

Lisa/Zeus

I have a 15 month old girl the exact same. She seems to just get so wild and hyped at the slightest interactions. Drives us crazy, my mum always moaning about it incase she hurts someone. It has got slightly better but shes a big dog so ita not a prfect scenario, she was the only pup in her litter so i think thts really hindered her teaching of bite inhibition but like u say yelping etc does nothing for mine either.

When we got Maggie she was a year and a half old and a total stray. She wasn’t house trained never been on a lead and mouthed quite hard. She is however quite bright, probably brighter than myself which ain't hard to be honest.

With the mouthing I would sit on the floor with her and play/clap her. When she got excited and mouthed me I would say "NO BITE" quite loud and tuck my hands away and ignore her for 2 minutes or so. After she has worked out that play has finished I would call her over and begin again.

She still opens her mouth when playing but a no bite makes her calm down straight away.

It took maybe 2 weeks to fix the mouthing totally.

If your dog bites hard then maybe wear some work gloves to start with.

Loki does it every now and again, he used to be awful and do it all the time, he only does it now if we are out and about and he's really excited and has received lots of fuss, he's 6 months now

Darcy was an awful biter/mouther but with persistence and lots of training she now at 2 doesn't do it at all, she still gets mouthy during play which I allow but a firm 'enough' from me stops her in her tracks. Xx

What did you do with Darcy Hayley?? Loki can be an arse sometimes doesn't help that my OH can forget and plays with him too much with his hands.

Distraction Hun, whenever she got bitey we gave her something she was allowed to chew, once she mastered that then we started to learn rough play and enough. Xx

I think max is going to be like this, though with him being a pup, obviously he is adorable and so everyone just always wants to play and cuddle him. Maybe he's getting too much attention?

I'm just coming up with lots of random "toys" for him to chew on. I never I had so much stuff he'd like    Just a shame it wasn't as easy to please the kids   

AbbieC wrote:Yes Lisa, I give him these hard plastic flavored bones from the pet shop to chew on because they are the only things that will last with him other than raw bones (every so often). Everything other toy I have given him he destroys within minutes if they are not hard. Tyres, ropes, balls squeaky toys all gone! I am concerned that I have encouraged his biting by giving him those plastic bones, as Rachel has possibly suggested with the over stimulation.
When he plays with me, its always with his mouth & biting. The only pattern to his biting is when he's awake! I love him when he's tired & sleepy!!   
He also has this thing where he will continually lick just before he gets tired & goes to sleep. He will try & lick me, the pillows on the lounge where he lays with me or the blanket he lays on. It drives me crazy. Is this a normal staffy behaviour?

go to Pet Barn get him a black Kong (not red) and he'll be sorted for a chew toy.I threw one out after 3 years simply case it was too small and he'd swallow it in he's big gob
Bunnings for the thickest bit of rope you can find
is he licking the pillows blanket ect or he's foot?